How The Light Gets In

Cactus Scars

Buy Valium Glasgow Cactus Scars © 2013 Bo Mackison

https://www.prestoavenuedesigns.com/save/buy-valium-europe.php “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~ Rumi

Tramadol Buy Canada As I walked back to my car after walking the labyrinth,  I followed a path through the desert scape, winding around rocky protuberances, around saguaros. Walking the labyrinth was more of an experience than I’d anticipated. I left somewhat shaken, off-balance. Literally finding my footing on the rough, rock-strewn path required my focus. I stumbled once, but jabbed my hiking stick off path to keep myself from falling.

Cheap Tramadol Overnight Delivery As I righted myself, I glanced to the side of the path. The sunlight streaked through the landscape, highlighting a fist sized wound in a saguaro. It was enough to make me pause.

http://lisapriceblog.com/coudm5x1 The saguaro was three times my height, and had four or five arms; it was possibly two hundred years old. Numerous scars, cracked surfaces and more than a few wounds covered its surface. Yet the sun rays cast a luminescence around the cactus, casting shadows from its thorns, and leading my eye to the largest opening at my eyes’ height.

https://hereisnewyorkv911.org/equvft72a I thought of the quote by Rumi, the wound allowing the light to enter.

here And I thought of the lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s, song, Anthem:

https://opponix.com/7f2y5y6jot Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
That’s how the light gets in.
That’s how the light gets in.
~ from Anthem, Leonard Cohen

here It made so much sense. The wounds, the cracks, the imperfections – they allow the light to enter, that’s how the light gets in.

follow ————-

https://www.mckenziesportsphysicaltherapy.com/p3d2i8d2r Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring photography, poetry, and emotion in a new series featuring desert lines.

Desert Labyrinth

Desert Labyrinth

follow link Desert Labyrinth ©2013 Bo Mackison

source url go here Labyrinth, A Journey

click here I walk in circles, around and back, around and forth.

https://valkyrieswebzine.com/nouvel/valium-online-reviews.php There is a beginning, a middle, an end.

Buy Valium Pills Online Guided by lines of crooked rocks
and an invisible hand on my shoulder,
subtle pressure encouraging me forward.

https://www.saiidzeidan.com/i2f5pued Take one more step,
Make one more turn,
Move into the center.

http://foodsafetytrainingcertification.com/food-safety-news/uje9z8qrz And there I stand immobile, my breath fragmented.

Buy Genuine Valium Online The labyrinth’s center, a large pock-marked rock
laden with mementos and memento mori —
small stones, rings and bracelets, a dog tag, holy cards.

Cheap Tramadol Overnight Center – the farthest distance from beginning or end.

https://www.rmporrua.com/69jkj2tk1t And so I move on.
No longer walking a slow meditative pace.

go site I am anxious to leave, ready to bolt, disappear,
still
I do not disregard the worn path,
the unspoken rule of the labyrinth.

here I stumble to its exit, blinded, my feet guided by the rocky lines,
and the labyrinth expels me from its sacred interior
into the other world.

https://www.boasdeibiza.com/boat/cheap-valium.php The ghost keeps vigil, its eyes the eyes of the cactus wren
perched on the spire of a tree cholla.
Its whisper, low and moaning, travels in the arroyo
carried on swirling winds.

—————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She explores creative photography. poetry, and emotion in a new series featuring desert lines.

Attentiveness

Hanging On

Hanging On © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” ~ Mary Oliver

Journal Reflections

A walk in the desert and I experience that same throb, a sense of wonder repeatedly. Walking in the desert is not exercise for my body – I hardly take a step before I stop to listen and look – but exercise for my mind, my soul, my spirit. I hike far enough so that I am there, alone. Only the music of the coyote song or cactus wren accompany my breathing and the racing of my heart.

I discovered something about my photographic habits a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I see something I want to photograph, I ready my camera settings and raise the viewfinder to my eye. If I see what I anticipated, I trill in excitement. Something like “oh, oh, oh” — always in triplicate. I do it without thought. When I hear my unexpected little song, I laugh.

So the coyote, the cactus wren, and the camera lady — we sing together in the desert.

 ——————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring creative photography. poetry, and emotion in a new series featuring desert botanicals.

Entangled

A Meditation in the Desert
Entangled © 2013 Bo Mackison

Entangled © 2013 Bo Mackison

The Desert has Many Teachings

In the desert,
Turn toward emptiness,
Fleeing the self.
Stand alone,
Ask no one’s help,
And your being will quiet,
Free from the bondage of things.

Those who cling to the world,
Endeavor to free them;
Those who are free, praise.
Care for the sick,
But live alone,
Happy to drink from the waters of sorrow,
To kindle Love’s fire
With the twigs of a simple life.
Thus you will live in the desert.

– Mechthild of Magdeburg
from The Desert has Many Teachings,
translated by Jane Hirschfield

Reflections from my Journal

In the desert, emptiness is everywhere. It touches me most deeply after the sun sets, when a sliver of moon sets its place, offering direction, but little illumination. Then darkness descends.

The world slows in labored breathing, a pause, preparing for a new day.

To free yourself is to ask for nothing, to find hidden resources and strength developed from living each day authentically. Waiting, until the time is right for the right question, the question is asked, an answer received.

Love’s fire, caught in the crook of a desert branch. Fire-bright in harsh light, precarious, entangled. Lines and curves, shadows and light, a love-story.

——————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring creative photography. poetry, and emotion in a new series featuring desert botanicals.

Doll of the Desert

Desert Guardian

Doll of the Desert © 2013 Bo Mackison

It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

Laying the Groundwork

I am exploring a variety of arts in the solitude of the desert — art that offers me a connection with my inner space, with my spirituality, with the roots of authentic living. I am searching. I am listening. I am creating.

During a conversation with a wise woman guide, we talked about the many ways of using the creative arts to explore the journey of living a full life. We discussed journal writing, art journaling, dream journaling, book-making, collage, weaving — all of which I’ve experienced, some more than others. As we were discussing a dream I’d had involving a doll house and a collection of dolls and accessories, she questioned if I might be interested in making a doll. Or several. I wasn’t sure, I replied. Sewing has never been a favorite activity of mine.

When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears

Serendipity intervened. A day later I was researching visiting hours for a regional arboretum and their site had a photograph of a small figure created from the natural materials of the desert. My curiosity was piqued. After contacting Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, I learned about a just-scheduled workshop – Figures from Natural Materials. I registered on the spot. (Sherpa was visiting and I claimed a second space in the workshop for him. More on his experience in the next post — it’s an another amazing story, and too good to keep to myself!)

The workshop was taught by Ruth Ipsan-Brown. What a creative and kind dynamo! Ruth spends half her days scrounging arroyos, open desert, parking lot perimeters, and back lots of arboretums (with permission) for sticks, twigs, seed pods, cactus skeletons, rocks and minerals, dried flowers and other such stuff. When not out in nature, she keeps a look out in thrift stores (grape-vine wreaths for dismantling), gem shows (tiny crystals and beads to augment her collection) and other such places.

Ruth then creates small figures from her collection of natural and found materials. The arboretum saw her marvelous constructions, asked if she would teach a workshop, and so it happened.

We arrived early at Boyce Thompson, allowing us time to stroll the almost deserted gardens. It had rained and everything was freshly bathed, the smell was heavenly. We arrived at the workshop studio at noon and met Ruth. She gave us a few instructions – some advice on using glue guns and drilling holes with Dremls, a quick lesson on painting tiny faces on flat rocks or bone. Then the fun began.

I looked over Ruth’s collection of desert finds, picking a few things that seemed to call to me. I’d bring a handful of nature bits to my workspace, add a piece to my figure, return the unused items. Repeat. Eventually, this tiny doll sculpture emerged. I created her without a lot of planning or thought.

A Doll of Metaphors

It was not until later that evening, when I was studying my creation, that I realized the desert doll was quite metaphorical. I identified some of the plants that made up the doll figure and looked up some of their symbolic meanings..

She has a piece of the Ironwood’s trunk for the base. According to a forest lore site, Grotto Radio, this tree “will teach that you can resurrect from tragedy”. The site also says the Ironwood tree spirit is “slow and grounded. One that sees its own feet walking the path rather than looking up to see the sun. It is not about speed or result but the effort put in the moment.”

My doll-figure’s spine is a spine from a cholla cactus, a relic from the desert that could be nearly 2oo years old. It is a symbol of endurance, survival in hardship, and to the  Tohono O’odham people, “the plant is a sacred being, capable of sustaining life.” What better choice for the spine of my desert doll?

Behind the saguaro spine is a bit of feathery skeleton from the prickly pear. Merely touching this dried skeleton can cause damage. Is that a cautionary sign to “handle gently” – that everything has its fragile part?

The cactus flower is often called a symbol of maternal love, a symbol of the unconditional love of Mother Earth, even under the most difficult of conditions. Every one would do well to have a symbol of unconditional love nearby.

And one final symbol – the turquoise “hat”. The turquoise gemstone is a symbol of protection and strength.

So, it seems as if my little figure is imbued with much mythological and symbolic meaning. It was a fun exercise – both its creation and the consideration of its symbolism. I think I’ll continue to explore this type of creation.

————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Sometimes she takes time away from photography to explore other creative outlets, and in doing so she discovers a depth to her world she once only imagined.